Echoes of a song
by minuetng
Summary: Snow/Emma one-shot; Set on Hook's boat following the last episode of season 2, with a flashback to a slightly altered version of a scene from Ep2x3 (Lady of the Lake). Emma is worried about Henry and Snow offers some motherly comfort and advice.


**_Author's note: My first fanfic; I do not own these characters, I just enjoyed writing about them. Thanks for reading._**

_[Flashback: Enchanted Forest]_

"I guess I just... I'm not... I'm not used to someone putting me first..." Emma said, her voice shaky with emotions she was not accustomed to having.

"Oh...Well, get used to it," Snow replied with a confident gentleness while embracing her daughter. Her daughter...her joy...her treasure. She longed to have Emma talk about this more, but now wasn't the time, and she didn't want to push Emma too fast. She held the embrace a moment longer, then let go, and stepped back, but not before she wiped away a tear from her daughter's cheek. Emma shrugged, uneasy with the sudden burst of emotions she had displayed, gave her mother a half smile, and left to join Mulan and Aurora.

Snow lingered in the nursery, glancing around longingly. Her heart grew heavy, and now that Emma was not here, the true emotions she held for this room gushed to the surface. She walked a few steps in towards the center of the room and stopped at the overturned crib. She knelt down and ran her fingers along the wooden frame with its decoratively carved spires on each corner. Carefully, she reached in and picked up a dirty, worn-looking pillow - its surface once covered in soft white lace, yet its destiny to cradle and comfort remained unfulfilled - and was surprised to see under it a bright spot of blue. It was a small stuffed animal, a bluebird. Snow lifted the toy out of the crib and sighed, reminded of the days when the birds came to her, singing their songs for her and the unborn child she carried. She held the soft toy in her hands for a moment, marveling at its untarnished appearance as tears filled her eyes and hope restored her soul. Then, tucking it into her pocket, she stood and turned to go meet the others.

_[Present: Hook's boat]_

"Mom? Where are you, Mom? Mom..."

The sound of Henry's voice echoed inside her head. Mom? Mom? The voice slowly transformed into that of her own inner child's cry before escaping from her lips.

"Mom?" Emma whispered dreamily.

"Right here," came the not-so-distant reply.

Emma's eyes flicked open and she half-sat up with a jerk. Pausing a moment, she recalled where she was... and why. She was below deck, having sought out a cool, dark place to be alone, feeling weary after all that had happened: fighting with Tamara, helping Regina destroy the diamond, losing Neal... and now Henry. She felt the bruises beginning to surface on her shoulders and back, the throbbing pain behind her eyes increased, and she longed to rest, but worry kept sleep from finding her.

Snow rose from a nearby bench where she had been sitting, watching her child sleep. She approached the bunk where Emma was, whispering in soothing tones, "I'm right here. Try to relax. You need to rest."

Emma lay back, putting her right arm across her eyes, hoping to hide the silent tears she felt roll down her face, and exhaled dejectedly. "I can't stop thinking about Henry, worrying about him. I hear his voice inside my head, calling out for me..." Henry, the one who had faith in her from the start, who never stopped believing to the point he was willing to risk his own life if it could abolish her doubts. Henry...her son.

Snow smiled and calmly sat on the edge of the bed. "It's called being a mother," she said, lifting Emma's arm aside and tenderly wiped her daughter's tear-stained cheek. "And the worrying never goes away...no matter how old you child is."

Snow reached into her jacket pocket, took out a handkerchief and unwrapped it, revealing the little toy bluebird. Emma sat up on one arm, and Snow handed it to her. Emma took the little bird, gently squeezing its soft, plush body. It smelled faintly of burnt wood and Snow's perfume. "What is...Where did you get this?" she asked quietly.

"From your nursery... in our castle." Emma looked up with wonder at her mother, recalling their adventures in the Enchanted Forest, and how she had seen another side of this woman she had only known before as the mild-mannered school teacher.

Snow paused, and closed her eyes. "It was that day we prevented Cora from getting the wardrobe. After you left the nursery, I stood there a minute, remembering and seeing in my mind's eye the future we had prepared for you... our little princess. I walked through the rubble to the crib, and looked inside. In my heart I could hear your laughter, and imagine you playing, which made me feel both joy and sorrow. I picked up a pillow in the crib, and underneath it was this little bluebird, undamaged by time. I brought it back with me, and have been carrying it in my jacket pocket the past few days, waiting for an opportunity to share it with you...to remind you of who you are."

"You are like a song in my heart, one that lifts my spirits and brings me such happiness," Snow continued, now looking lovingly upon her daughter with a twinkle in her eye. "Emma, we love you so much, and your dad and I will always be here for you, will always worry about you, and will always protect you, no matter how difficult things get. Just like now, you will always seek to protect Henry with all that you are. You will put him first. Family is our source of hope and strength - it's everything."

_Family_. Emma said the word to herself. Why was this so hard to accept? Why did she keep fighting against it? After all these years, her heart's sole wish was to find her parents, to not be alone anymore, and now that she had that, why did she keep them at arms length? Too tired to reason this out right now, and too afraid of breaking down, Emma resorted to what she knew best: self-reliance. She steeled herself and handed the bluebird back to her mom. "Thanks, but I feel bad keeping this. It obviously means a lot to you and..."

"It does," Snow interrupted, placing her hand on top of Emma's, "but you mean more. I just wished...I just keep hoping as each day passes that you will believe I would do anything for you. When you called me "Mom" in the mines, my heart skipped a beat upon hearing that word because that's all I want...to be your mother."

Snow brushed a strand of blonde hair out of Emma's eyes, leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, rose from the bunk, and turned to go topside, putting a check on her emotions. She desperately wanted to hold her daughter, to hug her until the fears and doubts were banished from her child's heart, to will her to believe all that she had said was the absolute truth. But she herself was new at this parenting thing, and was forcing herself to step away, to give Emma a chance to come to these realizations on her own. Glancing back, she knew the look on Emma's face now meant she was processing what had been said, adding it into the mix of all the strange experiences she had had since the day Henry showed up on her doorstep in Boston.

"Now, please, try to rest for a while. I have to go back up and make sure your father is behaving himself - he tends to act first and think later," Snow said with a sly grin. _One of the many little things I love about him_, she thought to herself. "But if you need me, I'll be close by." Snow walked out and climbed up the stairs to find Charming with a melody in her heart, the echoes of a song a little bluebird once sang.

Emma rolled over onto her left side, and pulled her knees in towards her chest. She placed the little bluebird at the edge of the pillow so it looked like it was perched there, ready to sing for her. _I will find you Henry...you are the song in my heart_, she thought and closed her eyes. As she heard the sound of retreating footsteps, she let her guard down a little, allowing the tears to fall once more.


End file.
